The quest update made him aware that he was not ready for the challenge. Pi’ve had just learned the corporeal manipulation spell, and he was not proficient enough yet. Beasts would, or could, be present in the cave, or in the forest for that matter, and even if the spell could be used as defence, he had no chance to defend himself when he struggled to lift a small rock off the ground.

  Pi’ve decided, as he had received a level-up and increased his strength, that he would take a step back and do some training. He doubted that the rock would be of any use in the cave; he would probably have to manipulate other materials or use the spell for other things than just to lift it. He made a small base by a large tree and began to experiment.

  He linked with the rock and began lifting it. He knew the spell now, so the method was familiar to him, and he could easily lift it the same height as before— only two inches or so— but as he did this there was a substantial amount of energy exerted, and he noticed that his mana was depleting fast. He started with 84 mana points, and now after lifting it once, he had 71 mana. It would make sense if he wasted a lot of mana lifting something larger or heavier, but this rock? 13 mana points gone in a matter of seconds… He had to be doing it wrong, or at least inefficiently.

  The mana was flowing through his body as before. He could feel it coursing through the staff, and a short moment later to the rock. Was he exerting too much mana while doing the spell? Right now he was pushing all he could, because it felt like he would lose the connection if not, and he did not know how much mana he needed for the rock to be lifted.

  He examined the mana in his body as he tinkered with the spell. He could not see it, but he could feel it. As the night came, he had under twenty mana, and felt his body begin to fight back. He became tired. It was strenuous to continue, so he found a place to rest, and before he knew it he fell asleep.

  As he rose at the break of dawn, he wasted no time as he began experimenting again. He ate some berries he had plucked along his way through the forest, and some that he found nearby. His mana had been brought up to 96. Higher than the day before. This time, he abandoned the rock and chose a pinecone instead. It was much lighter than the rock. He needed a few tries before he linked to it as this was a totally new object, and when he did, he found that he could lift it only a little higher. He managed to lift it up to the middle of his shin, but he still felt like he was exerting more mana than necessary. He tried to slow down the mana; to have it flow slowly and steadily through him at a controlled pace, but not slow enough to stop the mana.

  He trained the whole day and had small breakthroughs at times with how high he could lift it, and how much mana he was using. He could for the first time have the pinecone hover idly in the air. He could keep it in place, and that way, he noticed he could ease on the mana expenditure, and slow down the usage, as he was not trying to move it around, just keep it from falling.

  The next day, he got it to rise higher, and Pi’ve made the pinecone fly away from him slightly, but he lost the connection, and it fell to the ground. The next day after that, he could lift the pinecone up to his knee, and move it forwards, backwards and to the sides. But not far. The biggest breakthrough came two days later.

  Something clicked. It was as if he could open or close an imaginary valve at will, which kept the mana from flowing at full power. He managed to lift the pinecone slowly off the ground— not like he had before when it was forcefully yanked up— controlled and easy. He lifted the pinecone up to his knee, and kept an eye on the mana pool, which had dropped from 56 to 49 during this time, and kept monitoring the imaginary valve as he opened and closed it when necessary. The pinecone rose, rose, and finally, he had the pinecone level with his eyes. He made it hover there and stared at it. Could he throw it forward like this? Could he open the mana valve fully and push it hard and make it fly?

  With the spell came information about it too, and he knew that this was one of the ways you could defend, or attack, with corporeal manipulation. You could throw things. He tried to slowly push it away. After some distance it fell to the ground, as his connection did not reach that far. He lifted it again, and began tinkering with the idea on how to make the pinecone be thrown.

  Another two days went by, and now when he woke up, he had his mana pool full. The extra intelligence stat-points made a difference. His control of mana meant that he now could make use of his mana the whole day if he was careful and was strategic with it, and had enough left by the evening so that a nights sleep regenerated it to full again. He had managed to throw the pinecone, but not far. But in doing this, he had managed to extend his reach, so he could lift the pinecone standing further away, or send it floating further.

  Pi’ve was beginning to feel a bit restless by the eighth day, as his confidence had risen. He felt like he had become proficient in using the corporeal manipulation spell, and he was even getting better at linking with other stuff. He had managed to link with his knife that he had received in the tutorial, which was more complex and heavier than the rock and the pinecone, making it harder to manipulate.

  Pi’ve gathered his stuff, and began walking down beside the stream. He had not walked far before he saw what was undoubtedly the cave. It was a raised mound, and the cave was blocked by a large door. As he came closer, he saw that it could not be one door by the size of it, but two, split in the middle and which seemed to be able to swing inwards. He deduced this even though he did not see the split in the middle of the door, and because there was no trace on the ground that the doors swung outwards.

  The entrance was locked, though not so concealed. Even with this knowledge, Pi’ve had to give it a try, and tried pushing what appeared to be a solid stone wall, though it was a door, surely. It would not budge. Well, knowing that the only criteria for the quest was that he had to learn corporeal manipulation, and that he now had become more accustomed to using it, he tried to link with the entrance. He wanted to see if it was possible to open by using the skill.

  After thirty minutes of repeated failures, Pi’ve had the feeling that the door was too large for him to link with, or otherwise too complex. Or was it because there were two doors, and he could only link to one at time? He knew through the information provided by the skill itself that it was possible to link to several objects at a time, but that was not possible at his level of skill.

  There was something else he had to manipulate. Something smaller. Pi’ve walked around the mound which the door was set in to see if there was anything out of the ordinary that he could pull, raise or push, but there was nothing but grass, leaves and dirt. He had already studied the door for just under an hour by now, and there was nothing outwardly about it that he could—

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  Pi’ve went close to the door. He suddenly had an idea. If the entrance really was two doors, then there may be some lock inside that is preventing him from simply pushing it open, even if it is heavy. Pi’ve used his conjure light skill and lit up his staff. He stood slightly to the side of the door, trying to see if there was a shadow being produced where the door split. As he had theorised, there was a split. It was so faint that looking straight ahead at the door, you would not see the indentation of the stone door anywhere, but from the side, you could skim the indent going from the top all the way down. It was indeed two doors. Then there has to be—

  Pi’ve heard a howl in the distance, and he jumped snapping his head back to see if there was something in the vicinity. His heart began to race— was there beasts lurking near him?— but there was nothing to be seen. Another howl made him freeze. It sounded closer than the other. A pair of beasts was out there, and they were communicating with each other.

  Pi’ve let out a long, silent breath. ’Calm down now. We are almost there.’ He whispered to himself. He composed himself and took another steadying breath. He did not have all the time in the world to do this. It had to be the tutorial sending them after he tinkered with the door. Another howl sounded and almost broke him. He wanted to just fall to the ground. It came from some distance on the other side of the mound. He was surrounded. What was he to do? How could he get to the lock if it was inside the door? He had no clue if it was the right idea, but he had to try or else fail either way.

  ’Where’s that damned entity?’ Pi’ve cursed to himself. He mentally called for it, and it appeared in front of him. ’What do I do?’ Pi’ve whispered.

  ’What are you trying to achieve?’ The entity inquired.

  ’There are beasts close. Hasten up!’ Pi’ve was frantically touching and searching the door with his hands. He dropped his staff, and as it went dark about him, he heard the entity say ’remember what I told you. A calm mind is the way.’

  Pi’ve stopped, took a few breaths, and noticed that he had dropped his staff. He picked it up again, linked with it and lit the staff. Unconsciously, he lit the staff slightly dimmer than previously, as he did not want to attract the beasts by notifying them where he was like a lighthouse.

  ’Quite— I am trying to open this door. And I think that the locking-mechanism is inside the middle of this door, but I have no idea how to reach it. Or see it.’

  ’There are ways.’ The entity said, and took its time with the next sentence. Pi’ve was about to pry the words out of it, but then it spoke again. ’While intelligence does make you better at information processing, it is not its only property, as I have told you. You have not yet asked me about strength, willpower or perception, though I take it you have some ideas. Perception does make your eyesight better, but it is not the only thing it does, as you have surely postulated. What do you think it also enhances?’

  ’Oh! How nice. A riddle.’ Pi’ve snapped at the entity. He froze. He had possibly alerted the beasts of where he was. He whispered through gritted teeth ’Hey, I have no time for these mental acrobatics.’ Seeing that the entity did not indulge him with more information, and that he did not have time for all the questions and answers, he did as the entity wanted and had a think.

  ’Perception… improves my eyesight… what does perception mean— well, it means understanding, or taking in information… through the senses. See, hear, smell, touch, taste— touch! Aah… This might be foolish.’ Pi’ve said mostly to himself, but wanted to see if the entity gave any reactions to what he was rambling about.

  He went over to the door, and placed his hand where he thought the locking mechanism would be. He delved into his mind as he closed his eyes, and he felt for something. There was only the cold stone door, and his mana inside him. He let his mana travel slowly through his left arm, and as it entered his palm, it stopped, but felt it push against the door. Could he—

  AWOOOO!

  Shoot. The beasts were getting closer. Even as his heart raced, he felt a sense of calmness inside him, and a few moments later, trying to force his mana inside the stone door, he felt the door relent and the mana slip inside. The mana slowly crept, guided by his will and intention, and he searched the door. He could sense the rock. It was like seeing inside the solid door, but still not quite the same. He searched downwards, but there was nothing. He forced the mana to flow upwards, and suddenly he noticed something. There was a small gap, but there was something else there.

  *DING*

  In the top left of his vision he saw that he had gone up a level, but the notification vanished as he had no time for it. It seemed like the system knew when and when not to interrupt him by obscuring his vision with text. He needed more mana to see a larger area. He opened the mana valve a bit more, and he felt immediately that he sensed a bigger area. He saw what it was now; it was a simple iron rectangle, which had been slid into the door, and he saw that it had room to slide back into the other door, which would unlock it.

  He had to be quick. The beasts would close in any second. He familiarised himself with the iron rod, and whilst he inhaled and exhaled slowly, he got to work linking to it. He saw the iron rod as if he had it in front of him. It was like he knew what it weighed, what it felt like... Then he did it. He linked with the rod. Not many seconds after, as he let the mana be guided by the staff, it too linked with the iron creating a three-way connection. He was getting better at this.

  His hand let go of the door, but he still knew where the iron rod were. He felt it. Saw it vaguely. Then he got to work. Using his remaining 54 mana, he used his corporeal manipulation and began to slide the iron rod sideways. It was heavy. Really heavy. It was as if someone held it down, adding extra weight to it. For every inch he moved it he used ten mana points. ’Just a bit more now.’

  He was down to 37 mana, and he had moved it half way. He wanted it to slide the last two inches now. It got better though, and soon enough, he had made it— or so he thought. He tried pushing the door open, but it did not budge. ’What?’

  He heard leaves rustle behind him. Ice ran down his back. He turned slightly, and saw a silhouette standing on two feet, sniffing the air. He placed his hand slowly on the door again, and felt the iron rod through the door. He had just barely failed to move it over the crucial point. He re-linked with it, and did a final, forceful push to move it. Over 20 mana was used in the process, but it worked. Slow footsteps approached, and Pi’ve could not keep calm anymore. He turned around to see great, yellow eyes locked onto him, and he feared it was too late.

  As a last effort, Pi’ve flung himself at the door, which opened with a light push, but the large beast had pounced. Pi’ve stumbled inside, and tried closing the door as a long, pale, slender arm entered and thrashed around. It had claws the size of letter openers. It screamed nastily as the door crushed it’s hand. Pi’ve let go off the pressure to let it retract it’s arm, but it did not, and it tried pushing the door open even more. Pi’ve could feel his chest suddenly being cold, and looked down. There was blood. The beast had clawed him just over his collarbone, and he was bleeding fast. The yellow eyes pierced the small crack with bloodlust, but the beast stopped pushing at the door, and Pi’ve could finally close it shut. It was pitch black.

  He sat down, his back against the door heaving for air. His hands and feet tingled. His neck started to hurt. He was down to 9 mana. His stamina was down to 11. His health was dropping fast. 75… 71… 67… 63… What could he do? He felt exhausted, but he had to get up. He tried to reach for something to hold on to, and touched something that felt like wood and metal. He lit his staff and saw a chest by the stone wall.

  He opened the chest, and saw four items, and they all gleamed in the staff’s light.